Carrying case for a blender

ABSTRACT

A case ( 10 ) is provided with a compartment ( 20 ) that has a shelf ( 28 ) pivotally carried therein. When the shelf ( 28 ) is in a stowed position, the compartment ( 20 ) is full-sized for larger objects, and when the shelf ( 28 ) is in the extended position, the compartment ( 20 ) is effectively divided and sized specifically to receive blender components. The case ( 10 ) can be transported in three different manners. It can be carried by a handle ( 43 ), it can be moved on wheels ( 44 ) and controlled by a telescoping handle ( 45 ), or it can be carried as a backpack by straps ( 51 ) which can be stored in a pocket ( 52 ) when not in use.

TECHNICAL FIELD

This invention relates to a carrying case. More particularly, thisinvention relates to such a case which is specifically designed to carrya blender and related accessories.

BACKGROUND ART

Persons, such as food connoisseurs, who travel extensively and are awayfrom home for long periods of time, often desire to take smallappliances, such as a blender or food processor, with them for useduring their extended stays. In the past, such would require carefullyboxing or packing the blender so that its components would not bedamaged during travel, for example, on an airplane. Alternatively, thefood processing components could be carried in a conventional piece ofluggage, but again, care would have to be taken so that the componentsdo not move about with the luggage during transit. To date, there is noknown case specifically designed to conveniently carry a blender and itsaccessories, and thus, the need exists for such a device.

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION

It is thus an object of the present invention to provide a carrying casewhich can conveniently hold the components of, and the accessories for,a blender or the like.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a carryingcase, as above, which can optionally be moved on wheels by the user,carried by hand, or carried on the back of the user.

These and other objects of the present invention, as well as theadvantages thereof over existing prior art forms, which will becomeapparent from the description to follow, are accomplished by theimprovements hereinafter described and claimed.

In general, a case made in accordance with one aspect of the presentinvention includes opposed front and rear walls, opposed side walls, andopposed top and bottom surfaces. An internal compartment is formedwithin the case, and a shelf is pivotally carried in the compartment.

In accordance with another aspect of the invention, a case includesopposed front and rear walls, opposed side walls, and opposed top andbottom surfaces. A handle is positioned on the top surface and a secondhandle is telescopically received within the case. Wheels are carried bythe bottom surface and a pocket is formed on the rear wall. Straps haveone end attached in the pocket and are positionable adjacent to the rearwall.

A preferred exemplary carrying case according to the concepts of thepresent invention is shown by way of example in the accompanyingdrawings without attempting to show all the various forms andmodifications in which the invention might be embodied, the inventionbeing measured by the appended claims and not by the details of thespecification.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the top, front and one side of acarrying case made in accordance with the concepts of the presentinvention.

FIG. 2 is a front elevational view of the carrying case showing the maincompartment open.

FIG. 3 is a view similar to FIG. 2 but showing a shelf positioned inplace in the compartment.

FIG. 4 is a view similar to FIG. 3 but showing some blender componentspositioned and secured in the compartment.

FIG. 5 is a sectional view taken substantially along line 5-5 of FIG. 3.

FIG. 6 is a rear elevational view of the carrying case.

PREFERRED EMBODIMENT FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

A carrying case made in accordance with the present invention isindicated generally by the numeral 10. The majority of the components ofcase 10 are preferably made of a sturdy fabric or fabric-like material,such as ballistic nylon. Thus, case 10 includes a main fabric outer wallwhich includes opposed side walls 11 interconnected by a top wall 12, arear wall 13 and a bottom surface 14 which can be reinforced by astiffening board or the like. The main fabric outer wall extends fromside walls 11 to form a front frame wall 15 positioned at the top andopposed sides of the front of case 10. A front flap 16 extends frombottom surface 14 and is attached to front frame wall 15 by a zipperassembly 17. A small pocket may be formed in the bottom of flap 16 withaccess being gained thereto through a zipper which is shown in FIG. 1 asbeing protected by a strip of fabric 18. Flap 16 forms a door which,when opened, exposes a compartment generally indicated by the numeral 20and best shown in FIGS. 2 and 3.

Compartment 20 is likewise formed of a fabric material and includesopposed side walls 21 extending upwardly from the inside of case bottomsurface 14. As shown in FIG. 5, compartment side walls 21 are spacedslightly inwardly from case side walls 11, thereby in effect providing adouble wall fabric thickness on the sides of case 10. Compartment 20also includes a back wall 22 and a top wall 23 interconnecting sidewalls 21.

Several holding straps can be positioned in compartment 20, and two suchstraps are shown in the drawings as being representative. Thus, an upperstrap 24 can be stitched to back wall 22 of compartment 20, strap 24including a buckle or latch 25. Similarly, a lower strap 26 can bestitched to back wall 22 and includes a buckle or latch 27.

A shelf 28 is shown as being pivotally attached to back wall 22 betweenupper strap 24 and lower strap 26 on an end 29 thereof. Thus, shelf 28can be pivoted on end 29 from an upper stowed position shown in FIG. 2,to an extended shelf position shown in FIGS. 3 and 4. To maintain shelf28 in the stowed position, a patch of fastening material 30 (FIG. 5),such as Velcro®, may be provided near the end 31 of shelf 28 to engage amating patch of fastening material 32 carried by compartment back wall22. To maintain shelf 28 in the extended position, the opposed sideedges 33 of shelf 28 may be provided with flaps 34 (one shown) offastening material, such as Velcro®), which are adapted to be attachedto mating fastening strips 35 carried by compartment side walls 21.

Compartment 20 is thus capable of carrying various sized components, andin the preferred form, is particularly adapted to house a wide varietyof blending components. For example, as shown in FIG. 4, with shelf 28in the extended or down position, one or more blender containers orpitchers P can be carried on the shelf 28, and at least one of them canbe held in place by strap 24. In addition, the handle of one of thepitchers P can be threaded, for support, through a loop 36 which is bestshown in FIG. 3 as being formed on one of compartment side walls 21.Base B of the blender, which houses the motor and other controls, can beplaced on bottom surface 14 below shelf 28 and held in place by strap26. As shown, in this configuration, there is even room for a case Cwhich might be utilized to carry blender accessories, drinking glassesor the like. The items can be securely held in place in that the buckles25 and 27 can adjust to the length of the straps 24 and 26,respectively, in a conventional fashion.

At times, the blender pitcher P is positioned on the blender base B andprovided in a blender housing such as shown in U.S. Pat. No. D427,016.When it is desired to utilize case 10 to transport such a housing withthe base B and pitcher P inside of it, or any other large item ofequivalent size, shelf 28 can be placed in the stowed position as shownin FIG. 2, and at least belt 26 can be used to hold the items in the nowfull-sized compartment 20.

Case 10 is also adapted to readily carry other items such as papers,recipes or the like. To that end, a compartment 40 may be formed on oneor both sides of case 10 by attaching a fabric pocket 41 to the outsideof side walls 11. A zipper assembly 42 may be utilized along the sidesand top of pocket 41 to open and close each pocket 41 to gain access toand to seal each compartment 40.

Case 10 is provided with means to enable the transportation thereof inthree different manners. In a first mode, case 10 may be carried byhand. To that end, a handle 43 may be sewn or otherwise attached to theoutside of top wall 12. Alternatively, in a second mode, case 10 may berolled along on wheels 44 rotatably carried on the outside of bottomsurface 14 proximate to rear wall 13. For that purpose, a conventionaltelescoping handle 45 may be provided. As best shown in FIG. 5, handle45 is received in a socket 46 positioned in an internal chamber 47formed between the back wall 22 of compartment 20 and an internal fabricwall 48 extending between side walls 11 of case 10. A stiffening board49 may be attached to wall 48 to provide rigidity to the back of case10.

As a third mode of transportation, case 10 may be carried as a backpackas shown by the system generally indicated by the numeral 50 and shownin FIGS. 5 and 6. Backpack system 50 includes a pair of spaced straps 51which are normally carried stored in a pocket 52 formed between wall 48and rear wall 13. Pocket 52 may be closed by a zipper assembly 53 tomaintain straps 51 stored therein when the backpack option is not beingemployed. But when the backpack option is to be employed, straps 51 areremoved from pocket 52, as shown in FIG. 6. One end of each strap 51 isconnected to case 10 within pocket 52, and the other end of each strap51 is provided with a connecting strap 54 of adjustable length andhaving a clip 55 at its end. Each clip 55 is adapted to be attached to aD-ring 56 carried by case rear walls 13 or sidewalls 11. Once soconnected, system 50 will thus allow case 10 to be carried on one's backin a conventional manner. For the comfort of the user, system 50 alsoincludes padding on the rear wall 13 in the form of foam pads 57 (FIG.5) carried in pockets formed by an extension 58 of fabric pocket 41around the back of case 10. Extension 58 is attached to the rear wall,at 59, as by stitching or the like. Thus, pads 57, which extend themajority of the height of case 10, provide comfort to the back of theuser.

In view of the foregoing, it should be evident that a carrying caseconstructed as described herein accomplishes the objects of the presentinvention and otherwise substantially improved the art.

1. A case comprising opposed front and rear walls, opposed side walls,and opposed top and bottom surfaces; an internal compartment; and ashelf pivotally carried in said compartment.
 2. The case of claim 1further comprising a flap in one of said walls, said flap permittingaccess to said compartment.
 3. The case of claim 2 wherein saidcompartment includes a wall opposite to said flap, said shelf beingpivotally connected to said compartment wall.
 4. The case of claim 3further comprising a connecting member on said shelf, and a connectingmember on said compartment wall, said connecting members being adaptedto be joined to maintain said shelf against said compartment wall. 5.The case of claim 3 wherein said compartment includes opposed side wallseach having a connecting member thereon, said shelf having flaps with aconnecting member thereon, said connecting members being adapted to bejoined to maintain said shelf away from said compartment wall in aposition to hold articles thereon and to divide said compartment intotwo compartments.
 6. The case of claim 5 wherein each of said twocompartments is sized so as to be adapted to receive differentcomponents of a blender.
 7. The case of claim 6 further comprising aloop formed on at least one of said side walls, said loop being adaptedto engage at least a portion of a component of a blender.
 8. The case ofclaim 3 further comprising at least one strap carried by saidcompartment wall, said strap being adapted to hold items within saidcompartment.
 9. The case of claim 1 further comprising a compartmentformed on each side wall.
 10. The case of claim 1 further comprising ahandle on said top surface.
 11. The case of claim 1 further comprisingwheels carried by said bottom surface, and a telescoping handleaccessible through said top surface.
 12. The case of claim 11 furthercomprising a chamber formed between said rear wall and said compartment,said chamber being adapted to receive said handle.
 13. The case of claim1 further comprising a backpack system allowing the case to be adaptedto be carried as a backpack.
 14. The case of claim 13 wherein saidbackpack system includes a pocket, and a pair of straps beingpositionable in said pocket when not in use.
 15. The case of claim 14wherein said straps have first ends and second ends, the first endsbeing attached to and within said pocket, the second ends each having aconnecting strap.
 16. The case of claim 15 wherein said backpack systemfurther includes a clip on each said connecting strap and rings carriedby said rear wall, each said ring being adapted to receive a said clip.17. The case of claim 13 further comprising pockets formed in said rearwall and carrying foam pads.
 18. A case comprising opposed front andrear walls, opposed side walls, and opposed top and bottom surfaces; ahandle positioned on said top surface; a second handle telescopicallyreceived within the case; wheels carried by said bottom surface; apocket formed on said rear wall; and straps having one end attached insaid pocket and being positionable adjacent to said rear wall.
 19. Thecase of claim 18 further comprising an internal compartment and a flapin one of said walls, said flap permitting access to said compartment.20. The case of claim 14 wherein said compartment includes a wallopposite to said flap, and further comprising a shelf pivotallyconnected to said compartment wall.
 21. The case of claim 20 furthercomprising a connecting member on said shelf, and a connecting member onsaid compartment wall, said connecting members being adapted to bejoined together to maintain said shelf against said compartment wall.22. The case of claim 20 wherein said compartment includes opposed sidewalls each having a connecting member thereon, said shelf having flapswith a connecting member thereon, said connecting members being adaptedto be joined together to maintain said shelf away from said compartmentwall in a position to hold articles thereon and to divide saidcompartment into two compartments.
 23. A case comprising opposed frontand rear walls, opposed side walls, and opposed top and bottom surfaces;an internal compartment; a shelf pivotally carried in said compartment;a handle positioned on said top surface; a second handle telescopicallyreceived with the case; wheels carried by said bottom surface; a pocketformed on said rear wall; and straps having one end attached in saidpocket and being positionable adjacent to said rear wall.